The Lion King

You can make pretty convincing giraffes by having a person walk with 4 stilts.

I really thought the hyenas were the best-designed Lion King costumes though. I think it's at least partly because of the way a real hyena is built.

Grandma

My only living grandparent fell and slightly(?) cracked her hip the other day. Today I learned that she will have to stay in a nursing home for at least two months to recuperate.

I've noticed that quite often after an elderly person falls it leads to their death -- either immediately from the severity of the fall or a relatively short time later from complications related to the fall.

I'm not so sure that this will be the case with Grandma though. She's 95 and cranky (I'm told). She'll be 96 at the end of next month. She's a tough, old bird, as they say. And I mean that with love and respect.

Happy Leap Day (tomorrow), Grandma!

Couldn't Care Less

So this is more a reaffirmation than something learned, but it's nice to know that there are still English-speaking people in the world who know how to use the phrase "couldn't care less" correctly.

Humidity or Heat?

It is extremely difficult to find a small, working humidifier for sale in February in Waukesha. Large ones, some working and some not, are a little easier to come by. Heaters are very easy to find, but I don't need another one of those. I guess I'll get by without a humidifier for now too.

An Important Question

My daughter's boyfriend asked me a very important (traditional) question today. I'm now 100% sure of his honorable intentions. (I had been 99.99...% sure before.)

Grand Pianos

Grand pianos are made much more by hand than I thought. There isn't too much automated machinery involved. At least, not for Steinways. I saw an episode of "Some Assembly Required" that takes you through the Steinway plant in Queens. Interesting stuff.

Engagement

My niece officially got engaged to her boyfriend today! Congratulations, M & J!

And the Band Played On

It looks like I'll get to be part of two somewhat different bands for two different gigs this spring and summer. One would involve a high school friend's wedding anniversary. The other would be sort of a promo for our church.

Lunar Eclipse

The lunar eclipse we saw tonight is the last one in this part of the world until the year 2010. We took a couple of breaks from playing Puerto Rico to peek at it out the front window. It's much too cold to spend time outside looking at it.

Obama, Clinton, and McCain

Barack Obama defeated Hillary Clinton in the Wisconsin primary today. McCain beat his rivals on the Republican side too. Looks to me like it's going to be Obama vs McCain in the finals.

No, I didn't vote today. I will vote in the finals...when it sorta counts less.

Coin Toss?

1997 Pinnacle Mint coins (a football card related collectible) state "gold plated" on the reverse, if that's the variety they are. From this information, I infer that brass and nickel coins have no such markings, but silver coins probably do state "silver plated" or something similar.

If this is true, then I have only brass and nickel coins -- no gold or silver -- in my 1997 Packers football card collection. That's no reason to toss them away, but it would have been nice to discover that the shiny silver-colored coin I own really was silver.

Canal Mania

I learned how to play Canal Mania this afternoon with my son and daughter. (We'll teach my wife later.) I like the game a lot. It sorta has the feel of Ticket to Ride but with more restrictions and more variations, both of which are good things.

I got the game last Friday as part of the Math Trade mentioned in earlier posts.

Key Chains

It can be difficult to find a plain, cheap key chain in a department store like Farm & Fleet or Walmart. Our closest dollar store didn't have any at all. Farm & Fleet only had more expensive ones with big logos attached or gadgety kinds with unwanted features. (Who knew a key chain could have extra features?) Walmart only had the big logo types, with one exception. There was one little key ring with a medium-sized silver cross attached for only $.79. It didn't seem to belong with the rest of the chains on the rack. It wasn't even hanging on a hook that showed its correct price. So I bought it.

Math Trader

I think Jack's username at BGG is anglotiger (at least partly) because he's originally from England. Nice to meet you, Jack.

Future plans

My college-attending son is planning a 5-day trip out west for the week before Easter. Just to see the sights with some friends and probably to visit his aunt and uncle in Ridgecrest, California.

Pastor Gerald Free

Pastor Gerald (Jerry) Free went to heaven today. He was our pastor at Good Shepherd in Omaha for the first couple of years we lived there, when I taught at the elementary school.

Congratulations, Pastor Free! The Truth really did set you free.

Trading Games

It seems I may have actually made a successful trade in our 2nd Milwaukee area Math Trade being coordinated at BoardGameGeek.com. The final results aren't in until later tonight, but word is that at least one of the games I offered for trade has been taken by someone and that I'll get something in return from...who knows whom? Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! :-)

The games I offered are Cosmic Encounter, Leverage, and Go (along with a book about Go and Go-Moku).

Just Too Cold

My '93 Accord just won't start when the thermometer is stuck at 0 degrees. Not even when I run it for a while the day before. It starts okay at about 15 degrees...joy, joy!

Fortunately, I can work from home in such emergencies.

Bearded or Unbearded

My daughter's boyfriend decided to grow a beard because she like beards. I've got one. Must be a connection of some sort there.

August Wedding

I get to be the organist at my niece's wedding in August. It will be held at Grace Lutheran in downtown Milwaukee. I've never played that organ before. I've been to a church service there once or twice and seem to recall that the organ is rather large -- which is to be expected since the worship area is quite large too.

SE Wisconsin Boardgame Math Trade

There are over 250 games up for trade in the latest Southern (or Southeastern) Wisconsin Boardgame (Geek) Math Trade. Three of them are mine. I hope they can all find a new home and that someone else's can find a new home here.

Let It Snow...

We got 16 inches of snow in last night's storm. I think some of the piles are about 6 feet high. I hope we don't get too much more...at least not until some melts.

Free File

If you meet the qualifications, you can file your taxes for free online. You can, in some cases, use a service such as TaxSlayer.com, but it's only free if you start at the IRS Web site and use the link to TaxSlayer found there. If you start at TaxSlayer, you'll end up paying at least $9.95 for their services. If that's what you want, fine. But why?

Fun with Maps

I've always liked maps. I even started a stamp collection of maps long ago. Never got very far with it. Maps by themselves can be lots of fun. You can have contests with maps. And now you can do all sorts of things with Google maps mashups.

Oh, Happy Thursday!

My manager's grandmother went to heaven last Thursday. Oh, happy day!

A Super Game

I learned that Eli Manning and the New York Giants played better than Tom Brady and the New England Patriots today. Does that make the Giants the better team? Who knows? As all football fans know, it's what happens on any given Sunday (or Monday or Thursday or Saturday) that counts.

Final score: Giants 17, Patriots 14.

Make One Trip

When going to the hardware store (like Home Depot), make sure you get everything you need the first time. That way you won't have to spend 10, 20, or more minutes on repeat trips. That's time that could have been used finishing the project earlier instead of later.

Check Your Receipt

Even after checking and double-checking, it's still possible for the cashier at a fast food restaurant like Subway to charge you too much (even if only a dollar) for your meal.

Moral of the story: Always check your receipt to see that you weren't over (or double) charged for any items you ordered.